The Pesky Pebble
by BoomBoxHype
Summary: So what is a Steven supposed to do when he find himself with an unexpected house guest in the form of an angry little slice of pie? And what in the name of home world is a poor stranded Peridot supposed to do with when she finds herself surrounded by hostile traitors, and at the mercy of their cheerful 'leader? First attempt at a SU fanfic. Comments, and Reviews welcome.


**Chapter 1:**

"Wait, so we're just gonna let her live in my bathroom?" As he placed his 'World's Best Stephen' mug solidly down on the floor next to his legs, one Steven Quartz Universe frowned in discomfort. All the kookiness of being a hybrid formed by the unprecedented love between a human musician and the leader of a rebel sect of aliens readied the adolescent for many unnatural things… but losing one's right to a restroom was something no one could easily bare.

Steven sat surrounded by his three caretakers, all of them wrapping their minds around this rather difficult predicament in different ways: Garnet, the taciturn leader whose position was kept through both wisdom and proficiency in combat, sat quietly upon one of the table chairs within the kitchen, her chin resting upon clasped hands that housed her two gems. Amethyst, the scrappy and laid-back member of the troupe, was more at peace sprawled across the kitchen table with her limbs draping over its sides as she stared boredly across the room.

The final member whose form had been what Steven's eyes focused on when he had asked his question scowled as she paced the kitchen's perimeter; not at the boy's question, mind you, but instead at herself for still being no closer to figuring out a way to get what they wanted. The little green goblin definitely knew something they didn't and that irked Pearl a great deal, especially since she personally wanted to see the dangerous imp 'poofed' for a multitude of reasons.

Sensing that her charge was in need of an answer, the lithe gem turned to face Steven. "Well yes… what other option do we have? Keep her outside on a leash?" Pearl chuckled slightly at her own joke, but paused when she started wondering if maybe such an idea was worth consideration.

Though Pearl's joke had created an amusing image within Steven's mind, his frown only deepened. "But I need to use the bathroom!"

"Right now?"

"Y-yeah kinda." It's not like they could blame him for his body's natural functions; the excitement of being kidnapped and all the following craziness of the night had taken it's toll on Steven's poor bladder.

"Just go in the ocean bro ***psh*** like a fish." Amethyst couldn't help but give her two cents regarding Steven's 'predicament' as his and Pearl's chatter had ruined her daydream of just dressing the green gem like a pinata and having at her with a stick.

Much to his own personal chagrin, Steven was tempted by the idea until his imagination conjured up the various negative reactions a certain gem at the bottom of the ocean might have to him following through with it. " _ **Nope!"**_ Even if it was just the pretty blue gem gifted with hydrokinesis and not the giant cyan fusion said gem helped make up, Steven wasn't going to risk it. Instead, Steven sprang up from this sitting on his butt and stomped outside whilst muttering, "What's with you guys, and making me pee outside?!"

As the young gem exited the beach house that served as his home, his ears picked up the sound of Amethyst saying something in reply, but he was in too much of a hurry to give it any thought.

A few minutes later, a much relieved Steven finished up shifting sand with his foot. Usually no one came to this side of the beach next to his home, but better safe than sorry. " _Well at least I can still sleep in my own bed."_ While initially the thought had been comforting, a few seconds was all it took for Steven to feel sorry for the gem who had locked herself inside his room of relief. He was aware that gems didn't need sleep, but it didn't change the thoughts in his head about how he'd be sleeping inside his warm bed…and she'd be holed up in a strange alien place for the rest of the night.

Perhaps the gem's predicament was just karma's way of dolling her some justice for kidnapping Steven, but her would-be target personally felt the price had been paid and wished he could find a way to end things amicably. Problem was, Steven knew first hand that in her current state, the gem was more likely to act like a terrified and cornered cat than someone who would want to reach a peaceful agreement.

With a sigh, Steven turned around to head back up the beach toward his house… and instead softly collided with a wall of pink fur.

"Mmrr?"

"There you are lion. I haven't seen you all day." Steven couldn't resist a small chuckle as the large rosada-tinted feline began to sniff his hair and curiously licked his forehead. "I know, I know. I'm up wayyy past my bedtime." Steven gently patted the lion's muzzle as he stepped back to collect himself. "If it makes you feel any better, I was heading that way once I finished up here."

Though the lion didn't speak, it did sniff the air and gave Steven an inquisitive look.

"Long story short: Peridot kidnapped me, the Crystal Gems caught her, I let her go, annd now she's holed up in my bathroom."

"..Mmmr."

"I know, right?! The real problem is she mentioned something called 'the cluster' earlier and by the way she was acting, I think it's something seriously bad. She won't talk to the Gems, and if they poof her we'll never know what she's so afraid of."

"Mrmm?"

As much as he appreciated lion's feedback, Steven had to frown a little as he listened to it's reply. "Last time I tried to talk to her, all she did was start hitting me over and over again… and she hits kinda hard."

Instead of replying again, Lion just fixed a dubious look onto the hybrid.

"Look, I would try again, but if Garnet can't get her to tell us anything, how the heck am I supposed to?"

"..."

Steven 'hmmmed' slightly as he mulled over the feline's comment. Perhaps Lion had a point when it said the fusion's methods of interrogation might not be suitable; maybe a lighter touch was in order. It felt almost like something his father had told him regarding how to deal with Lars when the teen was being particularly grumpy.

"You catch more flies with syrup than pickle juice."

A brief moment of head scratching was all it took for Steven to come up with a plan, and with that, his trademark smile was back in full force. "Thanks Lion, you're the best!" After giving the purring jungle cat a full hug and promising to head to the store to grab more lion-lickers, the grinning boy ran back up the stairs to his front door. Steven Quartz Universe had some syrup to retrieve.

* * *

Deep within the secure confines of her makeshift holdout shelter, the Homeworld gem known as Peridot plotted her next move. In truth, the little green gem was currently huddled up in a corner next to the bathtub as she eyed every object around her with suspicion. The object identified as a 'toilet' had not been some sort of H20 based teleport. The mirror, though intriguing, served only to distract Peridot with her own image which was probably part of an underhanded Crystal Gem scheme to get her to lower her guard. And the part of the small room that the Steven had referred to as a shower couldn't be trusted. In this room filled with strange devices and unexpected traps, the young Homeworld gem could do little but sit… and wait.

For what? The Crystal _Clods_ to finally decide she wasn't worth keeping unbubbled and smash their way in to collect her? Or perhaps if she was able to hold out long enough, she could just wait for the blasted cluster to do it's work and destroy the lot of them. After scanning the small room for any new dangers, Peridot paused so that she could inwardly calculate the likelihood of either event. The former possessed a forty-seven point five percent chance that rose steadily in value as time passed, and the latter a mere fifteen point three percent.

If the numbers weren't so damned unfavorable, the little technician would gladly hope for the latter. She'd prefer living of course, but if the end result was just her being shattered anyways, Peridot wanted to console herself with screaming, "I told you so you Clods!" at them before they were all destroyed along with the Earth when the cluster awakened. The green gem would have snickered at the idea if her thoughts hadn't been suddenly interrupted by a light rapping against the door.

"Peridot, you in there?"

With the quickly calculated percentages still fresh in her mind, Peridot had feared the onslaught of the Garnet fusion had begun. Assimilating the intensity of the knocks and the accompaniment of the Steven's voice, Peridot was confused and suspicious: The Steven was the last one she'd expect to try breaching her stronghold. Peridot narrowed her eyes at the door as she processed the question he'd just asked. "Where else would I be you little.."

"If you are in there, would you let me in?"

"No."

"Please."

"No!" Peridot uncurled from her corner so that she could cross her arms and glare at the door separating the gem from her current tormentor. There was nothing the little oddity could say that the other, more-threatening gems hadn't already attempted. Absolutely noth..

"I have something for you."

As Steven stood outside his bathroom, he couldn't help shuffling a bit out of anxiousness. Back on the beach this seemed like a pretty fool proof idea. Now that he was nervously waiting for some sort of response from Peridot with his 'peace offering' in hand… the juvenile considered a rapid retreat. Perhaps he should have made a backup plan, or at least explained his motives to the trio of gems, who from their place in the kitchen, watched with blatant interest.

As fate would have it, the bathroom door handle turned before Steven could go through with his escape, and then he was peering into the suspicious iris of a green gem. From where the young quartz stood, he could hardly make out more than Peridot's face, and then it disappeared back behind the door as the still-scowling Homeword gem closed the door again. A moment passed before Steven realized that his gift for Peridot had been snatched before he could properly offer it, and just as a small frown began to form on his face, the door once again opened.

As her young 'liberator' entered the small room and closed the door behind him, Peridot clenched the limb enhancer as tightly as she could. This miserable planet, and these damned Clods had taken everything from her: Her mission. Her flask robonoids. Every option she had at returning home. And now all she had was this one piece of her equipment. It was nearly enough to make the technician want to bare her teeth and beam the Steven right in the face.

Instead she chose to show a little gratitude."What a great souvenir of that other time you assaulted me." Really, really little.

Though Steven had hoped for a "thank you" he actually wasn't surprised by the green gem's words. He had doubted that simply returning something of hers would truly make Peridot happy, but at least she was talking to him… sort of. "W-well you did try to squash me like a bug the first time we met."

Peridot's scowl intensified as she mentally counted all the times her possessions had been destroyed. If memory served, the Steven had been present each time. "Well congratulations for your resilience, as well as your apparent proficiency at dismantling Homeworld technology."

With a sigh, Steven flicked the bathroom lights on and took a moment to survey the chaos that had been wrought upon it: The shower curtain was dripping sadly upon the floor due to it's support being halfway out of the tub instead of where it should have been. His bathroom rug was soaked through and it appeared that Peridot had knocked everything off of the sink for whatever reason. Still, it could have been much worse, and he couldn't find it in himself to be upset at the gem that sat huddled next to the wall like a cornered animal. "Thanks I guess… and sorry about all of that."

Instead of responding, Peridot settled on grumbling something to herself as she tried to ascertain the enigma that was the Steven. She'd seen enough to know he possessed gem abilities; rare ones at that. His severe naivety pointed toward him being young, possibly even younger than herself, yet somehow he was capable of bypassing gem technology. In an utterly alien way, the Steven's strangeness was almost interesting.

"Hey, uh, Peridot?"

Annd now it was talking again. As Peridot pulled out of her brief musings, she was once again mystified to see that the Steven had tidied up the room somewhat. "What?"

"Can you pass me that?" From across the bathroom, Steven pointed toward his lucky toothbrush that had found it's way onto the floor just out of his reach, but sat easily within the green gem's. It was a simple request, and he hoped that maybe his apology would make Peridot more willing to be friendly.

Peridot's eyes narrowed as she looked over the small instrument that the Steven seemed to want. With lightening speed, the green gem snatched up this 'toothbrush', and aimed it toward its owner. "Is this a weapon!?" Unconsciously Peridot's lips curled back, showing off her small pointed teeth as she recalculated her odds.

"Only for cavities." Steven merely shrugged as he attempted to calm the gem down whilst keeping himself from chuckling at the 'weapon' brandished in his direction.

Peridot eyed the item in her hand once more, then with a small "Hmph!", she tossed it toward the Steven's waiting hands.

"Thanks." Though he had merely just wanted to get his toothbrush off the floor, he didn't see any harm in a quick brush. Peridot seemed happy enough to stay in her selected 'safe zone', and Pearl had nearly 'poofed' just seeing Steven's baby teeth fall out naturally.

For a few moments the only sound in the room was Steven running some water over his toothbrush followed by the rituals of dental hygiene. Halfway through, Steven couldn't help noticing the green reflection in his mirror. While he would have been happy to ask Peridot if she wanted or needed anything, Steven decided to just finish up and quietly let the gem sate her own curiosity.

"Is that a weapon?", said Peridot, pointing.

"No that's just a comb I never use."

While Peridot supposed that if there were indeed any useful weapons within this room, she herself would have found them, it put her at ease enough to watch the Steven from a closer vantage point without fear of a sudden attack. From atop the toilet Peridot grimaced at the strange cloth that the Steven began wiping his face with. "...Is that a weapon?"

"Hm?' Looking down at the washcloth in his hands, Steven briefly wondered if human technology was as strange to Peridot as gem technology was to him. "Oh, well I guess if you get it wet and roll it up." As Steven began twisting the small towel in his hands, he noticed Peridot's eyes go wide, and with a small yelp of fear Peridot curled up as small as she could.

The frightened display served to fully prove the small theory that had been growing in Steven's mind: Peridot wasn't some monster like the ones he'd seen countless times growing up with the gems, and she certainly wasn't like Jasper. She was just a little gem with nowhere to go and everything to be afraid of.

"Look, I know you're scared, but… I'm not going to hurt you. And whatever's going on… whatever the cluster is, I wanna help you."

As she composed herself, Peridot felt the urge to immediately reproach the Steven's statement. She wanted to ask how such a little pebble could possibly assist her in any valuable way… but she surprised herself with what she said instead. "W-why?"

If Steven was surprised by the Homeworld gem's question it certainly didn't show. Instead of looking taken aback or even the slightest bit unsure of himself, Steven just smiled at Peridot and said. "It's what my mom would have done."

 **End of Chapter 1**

Well for what it's worth that's my first chapter folks.

Did you like it? Did you utterly despise it? Maybe you're waiting to see how things pan out before giving it the beloved thumbs up or the infamous thumbs down. Either way I'd be interested to hear what you readers think about what I hope is the beginning to something fun to write, and hopefully enjoyable to read.

See ya next time reader.


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